Method of shearing fur pelts



Patented Mar. 6, 1928.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE;

enonen LAEMMLE, on NEW ROCHELLE, NEW YORK, Assrenon TOBABNET LEATHER COMPANY, me, or new YORK, N. Y., A oonrona'rron or DELAWARE,

METHOD OF SHEARING FUR PELTS;

No Drawing.

This invention relates in general to a process for cutting the hair onifur pelts and more particularly hasreference to a method of shearing calf skins. Shearing and plucking form a very large factor in the dressing and finishing of pelts intended for the fur trade, depending upon the kind of skin beingtreated; It is desirable to cut away the over-growthto bring to the surface the thicker and silkier hair underneath and also to reduce the "thickness of the skinto any desired extent by cutting the hair to attain the desired Weight. The amount of shearing and plucking varies with each particular skin treated.

Pelts used foi fur garments-are limited to the thickness ofthe skin,.and calf ingeneral is theheaviestever-used. The character and colorof the hair are the other vdetermining influences. In size a calt skin is considered a large type, the other pelts running down to verysmall sizes such as squirrels, ermines and rats, all of Which will give an idea of the variety, size and thickness of skins that shearing machines ,must be able to work.

Ex cepting the unborn calves known as slinks, wl iieh,forma very small percentage of the available skins, calf skins, if dressed and left in,theirnati 1ral state, wvould be too heavy for garments and the hair Would be too cowy to meet. the requirements of the fur trade. It is therefore necessary that calf skins must. be shearedso that the hair will not be longer than from four to eight millis meters in length and such a process on calf skins must be very finely regulated so that a difl'erenceof one-halt millimeter can be obtained. V I a l I-l eretotore, however, it has been impossible to take advantage otthese types of skins in imitating other furs or in even emloying them in a natural state as the pecuiarity in growth of the hairhas prevented an efiicient shearing of the pelage. On most fur bearing animals, the hair runs from the neck toflthe tail in one direction except in minor portions of the underparts Where a I difference in direction so far as shearing is concerned is unimportant as these parts of i the skins are seldom used, and the shearing of the Whole pelt may be easily carried on Application filed August 8, 1927. serial No. 211,610.

bald spot on the back, running toward'the neck and tail from this centerastwell as the sides iii a-complete sun-ray design. In shearing an ordinary pelt having the usual growth of hair falling in a single direction the pelage may be completely; and evenly sheared against the fall'of the hair in one operation.

lVhere it has been attemptedto' shear a calf skin,howeventhe hair has been cut against the fall through the center bald spot after'ivhich the remainder is i iecessarily cut over the fall. In cutting over the fall of the hair only a portion is unevenly sheared and chatter marks or knife cuts invariably produced, which render the skin'impractic-al for further use. In attempting to overcome these diiiicult-ies calf skins have been sheared. completely by running the skin through a machine iiropposite directions in line with the direction from the head to the tail of the animal. This method has produced an even poorer product, however, as in attempting to shear a skin in this manner portions of the hair are cut parallel to the line of fall which makes the skin exceedinglyliable to buckling, and causes chatter marks even more pronounced, besides makingcuts in the skin Which totally ruin the pelt. j

An object of this invention is to provide a method of completely shearing a calf skin.

Another object of this invention is to provide a method for evenly shearing calf skins without producing chatter marks or damaging the skins. V I A further object ofthis invention is to provide a method for shearing the hair on calf skins to any desired length withoutthe appearance of the hair having been cut. 7 V \Vith these and other objects in view Which may be incident to my improvements, the invention-consistsin the method to be hereinafter set forth andclaimed, with the understanding that the several necessary steps comprising my invention may be varied in order or degree, Without departing from ingout my invention, I first place the calf skin in anyvconventional shearing machine andcut one fall ofthe hair through the center bald spot in a line Withthedirection from till the head to the tail of the animal. Although it not necessary to begin the operation at this specific point, as will be better understood after referring to the following description, I preferably continue the shearing over the fall of the hair after the center bald spot has been reached although this step n'iay be dispensed with if so desired. I find, however, that in so doing, the disadvantages of regulating the feeding of the skin to a precise point on the pelt is avoided, and that the cutting that is etlected over the fall of the hair removes certain quantity of the pelage than facilitates the subsequent operations to be hereinafter more fully set forth.

After the iirst shearing operation, I again consecutively repeat the operation progressively around the sides of the skin until the pelt has been fully sheared. I have found that six shearing operations carried on at angles of 45 with respect to the line through the bald spot on which each preceding operation was carried on, are generally sufficient to insure a completely sheared pelt, although, it is, of course, to be understood that I do not limit myself to any specific number of shearings, as additional operations may be found desirable in certain instances. I do not believe, however, that a calf skin can he etliciently sheared with fewer than six.

There is thus insured a cutting against the fall of the hair on every portion of the skin, thus insuring an evenly cut and uniform surface. It is manifest that the hair may be cut toany desired length to conform with the length of the hair of the particular fur which is sought to be imitated or of any conventional length that is deemed most suitable if it is intended that the calf skin is to be used in its natural state. As the hair is cut in six directions any natural waves or curls are evenly sheared as well as the straight hair, thus preserving the flowery or moire character which increases the value of the pelt.

The preferred machine which 1 utilize for my process is that disclosed in the application of Prima E. Fontana Serial No. 211,- 521 filed August 8, 1927 in the United States Patent Ofiice. I find that it is necessary to support the screen in such a manner that the hair is directly presented to the cutting blades over a roller or similar surface so that the hair is made to stick out and be directly presented for only a small portion of its area to the cutting edge. In the usual types of machines known on the market the cutting is done along a narrow strip and, because of the size of a calf skin, the unsupported portions of the skin cause it to wrinkle so that it is extremely dilficult to cut in the manner described in this application for patent without causing cuts on the skin proper as distinguished from the pelage. A calf skin must, to be marketable, have an extremely short pelage as previously described and any cuts in the skin itself show in the finished product. A. diliiculty is encountered with calf skins that is not present in ordinary skins, since ordinary skins do not have to have the hair cut as short as is the case with call? skins since they are ordinarily not as heavy. In ordinary skins, therefore, where the skin proper is out no material damage is done to the pelt for the cuts may be sewn up without the stitching appearing through the hair, whereas in the calf skins any repair by stitching the cuts is innnwliatcly apparent and renders the skin practically useless for fur ,)lllll0505.

Up to the present time, therefore, the only machine which I find practical is that above referred to though I do not wish to be specifically limited to this application for the use of my process in such a machine as it may be pos ible that: other types of machines will be devised which will enable me to carry out the process herein set forth without dan'iage to pelts.

I have found that any other method of trying to cut with the fall of the hair and against the fall of the hair has had to be discarded because of the tendency of wrinkles forming as the skin is fed which calls holes in the pelt, and it must be borne in mind that such holes cannot be repaired in sheared skins to avoid the seams showing in the finished garments.

It is obvious that this invention is in no wise limited to calf skin, but is applicable as well to any other types of fur pelts in which the hair grows in dill'erent directions similar to a all: skin, or to pelts where the general direction of the hair is unchanged or not radial but assumes a particular flowery character, such as earacul or n'loir, in isolated portions of the skin where the hair suddenly becomes wavy and runs in varied directions for short intervals. It is particularly desirable that the shearing in such portions be done with absolute uniformity as the value of fur pelts increases with this particular moire i'caturc.

There is accomplished by this invention a method of shearing calf skins or any other pelts having a pelage composed of hair growing in radial directions from a common center, whereby all the hair may be evenly sheared by cutting all portions of the pelt against the fall of the pelage and in such manner that the chatter marks or damaging cuts in the skin are avoided and the hair cut to any desired length.

lVhile I have described the preferred embodiment of my invention, I wish it to be fully understood that I do not confine myself to the precise steps set forth by way of explanation, as it is apparent that many changes and variations may be made therein, by those skilled in the art without departing lit) from the spirit of the invention, or exceeding the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A method of shearing fur pelts having of the hair through the center bald spot and repeating the shearing operation consecutively through the center bald spot against all the falls of the hair. a

3. A method of shearing fur pelts having a pelage composed of hair falling in different directions from a center bald spot comprising shearing the pelage against one fall of the hair through the center bald spot and over the other falls of hair and repeating the shearing operation consecutively through the center bald spot against and over all the falls of the hair. Y

4;. A method of shearing calf skins. com 7 prising, shearing the pelage against one fall of the hair through the center'bald spot and over the other falls, and repeating the shearing operation through the centerbald spot consecutively five times against the other falls of the hair.

5. A method of shearing calf skins comprising, shearing the pelage against one fall of the hair in a line with the direction from the head to thetail of the pelt through the center bald spot, and over the fall of the hair and repeating the shearing operation consecutively five times at angles of 45 degrees to each preceding out against and over the falls of the hair through the center bald spot. I

6. A method of shearing fur peltshaving a pelage composed of hair falling in differ-i ent directions comprising shearing the pelage against one fall of the hair, and repeating the shearing operation consecutively against other falls of the hair.

In testimony whereof I afiix my'signature.

GEORGE J. LAEMMLE. 

